It was 2372 in the Sutant Continuum. We Sutants created it ourselves after we faked our destruction several months ago. We did this to stop the constant bothering of many people, especially ones from Starfleet. The only mortal, who knew about our new secrets, was Lashunda C. Spencer, a fellow Sutant but she wasn’t a zombie like the rest of us. We communicated to her almost persistently by telepathy to avoid suspicious since she was the only one, who had the ability to see and hear us when we were not in materialized form. Lashunda was a mutant demi-goddess while we were mutant gods.

I was Charlemadge Rayton Jardine but many called me Charlie Ray. I was twelve years older than Lashunda. I had large violet eyes, dark Tom Cruise-like eyebrows, rather large Cary Grant-like nose, full cherry lips, a noble Pete Townsend-like jaw, smooth olive skin, a 6’3 height, and thin yet rather large build. Auburn wavy thick locks came down my shoulders.  I usually wore it into a ponytail.

I stepped out of my study and entered my bedroom.  I began to ponder about my co-leader, Tommy Cooper.   Thomas Lindsey Cooper was a 6'2 young man with dark brown almost shoulder-length straight hair and hazel green eyes and bore a striking resemblance to Chris Potter.  He lived two houses down from me.  He was also married to Jessica Dickson, a  lovely 4'11 woman.  She had sparkling green eyes, a medium-sized curvy build, soft yet smooth milky white skin, slightly full curvy lips, a gentle round nose, and straight strawberry red short locks that came two inches above her shoulders.  A week ago, they celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary.  The two lovebirds were still crazy about each other.  Nearly each time I saw them together, sex was involved between those two.  Yesterday, I saw Tommy floating two feet off the ground in his blue boxers during a visit.  He totally flushed with sweat as he held Jessica.  She had her arms around his neck and was topless with dark panties even though I only saw her face and her nude back.

"Hi CR," he spoke somewhat calmly as he slowly came down while cradling his wife.  Jessica gently rested her facial against his as he continued to hold her.

"How are you, Shun?" Lashunda’s grandmother asked calmly.

"I’m okay, I guess."

"I talked with your father, Jean-Luc today." There was a short pause. "He told me about the family counseling sessions. So, I decided to have some sessions with both you and Jean-Luc." Lashunda’s mouth dropped while her dark eyes widen into shock. "Also we are going to have a session within a hour from now." Then Lashunda made a Picard-like sound of utter revulsion. "Shun, will you please stop with Terran Caveman sounds? It’s downright annoying, okay?"

An hour later, Luita and Ethel joined the Picard session. Ethel was Sara’s identical twin sister and wore a French roll, a blue and gold blazer, white dress T-shirt, a clear lipgloss, blue slacks, and blue ankle boots. Ethel gave Jean-Luc a rather stern look when she entered Dr. Braxton’s family counseling room. It was the first time that Ethel and Jean-Luc had seen each other since Lt. Spencer’s treason trial. Ethel sat down beside her mother on a dark sofa while Jean-Luc and Lashunda faced them on an orange floral sofa. Dr. Braxton began to lecture as Luita and Ethel exchanges looks with Picard while Lashunda turned and listened to the young counselor.

Within a hour, the session ended. Lashunda and Jean-Luc entered a nearby Turbo-lift while the older Spencer relatives returned to their quarters. As the Turbo-lift took them to the Bridge, Picard tried to recover from his minor injuries that he received from Ethel’s attack. His former sister-in-law jumped on him when Dr. Braxton asked her for comments. At first, Picard blocked some of her hits until she gave him a hard knee to the torso. Then she began to punch him while she held him in a headlock. Luckily, Lashunda and Luita pull her off. When Ethel settled down a little, she gave him a hard slap to the face. During the rest of the session, everything went reasonably peacefully.

As Jean-Luc sat into his chair, several crewmembers noticed that his face was now swollen and bruised. Lt. Spencer turned to her father briefly with concern and returned to her work on the Bridge computer. Soon he told them that he was okay after he became involved in a fight. A few crewmates gave Lashunda mixed looks as she continued to work and wondered about her mother, Sara. She knew that Sara was in concealment. Truthfully, Sara was now trapped in a parallel universe on Enterprise-E when a space rift sucked in her spacecraft. At that universe, she was still married to Jean-Luc.

Meanwhile, Sara walked down the corridor of the parallel Enterprise and wore a reddish-orange zip-front tunic, matching pants, white long-sleeved tee, and classic white and orange Nikes. Her black straight locks hung two inches past her shoulders while her feathery bangs came halfway down her eyes. Then she walked past Jet Coppula, Badu’s wife. Jet Sharona Grier-Coppula was a 6’0 young Canadian woman with chestnut brown shoulder-length straight locks, blue eyes, light pink soft skin, rather full lips, rather thin yet curvy figure, and bore a strange resemblance to Paul Gross. She was same age as Charlie Ray but came from Sara’s own universe. Jet wore a pink and blue long-sleeved crinkled dress, matching flats, dark pink lip-gloss, and a small silver heart-shaped locket. Her husband, Badu was a sorcerer and had the power to travel to other universes. Badu was a 6’1 Italian-American with green eyes, receding black short locks, thin yet muscular frame, and bore striking to David Marciano. She and Badu were on vacation. The two women greeted each other with friendly head bows.

Sara entered her quarters as Jet turned a corner. The quarters were slightly dimmed and had furniture similar to the Enterprise’s from her universe but were in brighter colors. She rubbed her neck as she looked around the room. Then she went to the proxy Sara’s personal logs. Sara was almost finished with the second log. From the logs, she learned that the equivalent Serene joined her husband seven years ago after an eleven-year exile. She was banished to an Amish community on Earth after she was forced to betray Jean-Luc and to give up Lashunda for adoption. Several corrupt Starfleet officers and the U’orpans were the main ones who cause it. Luckily, the corrupt officers were all killed by the U’orpans when the Starfleet officers deceived the aliens before Sara’s return. When the parallel Sara first arrived on the Enterprise-D, her husband embraced her passionately. Ironically, Lashunda’s parentage was still kept as a secret for Lashunda’s protection. The parallel Lashunda had recently transferred to the Georgia, a free-lanced spaceship that was owned by Louisa, Lashunda’s former T’Pagh captain.

After an hour had passed, she put up the logs and left to the Ten-Forward. She sat at the bar and ordered a tall glass of Terran pear juice. When she received her order, a modern Terran jukebox played Engelbert Humperdinck’s "Misty Blue" nearby in the back against a wall. The place was somewhat empty today. A moment later, the jukebox changed the song to Janis Joplin’s "Get It While You Can". As Sara took a sip from her drink, she wished that she were back home.

While at Sara’s own universe, several hours had passed as Lashunda played Christopher Cross’ "Sailing" instrumentally on her acoustic guitar in her quarters. She sat on the floor and wore a white Janis Joplin T-shirt, navy blue pants, and white and blue cloth Converse classic hi-tops. As she continued to play, her Lava-Lamp Computer beeped. It was time for the Universal Music News. A moment afterwards, it came on the lava-lamp computer screen. Newscaster Grace Haute appear in a blue and green pantsuit as she sat at the Universal Music Anchorperson desk. The newscast went like this:

"Good afternoon. In the music news, a new artist breaks old records. Lashunda Spencer a.k.a. Honeybear breaks Whitney Houston’s old record for the longest #1 song. Ms. Spencer’s "KC Blues" has been the #1 spot for 17 straight weeks. Also her fourth album, "KC Blues" shares the top Twenty albums with all of her previous three solo albums. This is a first in over a decade. Even though she has never made a video for either of her albums, her music is a constant favorite on many planets. When she made her debut solo concert a while ago, she became a smash with a show that was sold out within 10 minutes. Ms. Spencer is now a Universal Superstar."

When the newscast ended, the computer automatically turned off. Lashunda just sighed and returned to her song. After the song was finished, she played Van Morrison’ "In the Mist" instrumentally. During the middle of the song, her doorbell rang. She answered it and opened the door. It was Tommy Cooper. His dark locks were now mid-length and tucked gently behind his ears. He wore a blue jacket, a colorful 1950s-style-bowling shirt, dark pants, and black laced loafers. Tommy gave her a crooked half-smile.

"Hello Lashunda," His deep yet somewhat raspy voice sounded calmly with a faded Canadian accent. "May I come in?"

"Sure." Lashunda let him in. Even though she only met him a few times, he was one of several Sutants who actually used a door. "Hello Tommy. What brings you here?" She put her guitar back on its stand that was near her office closet.

"I’m visiting some in-laws with Jess. Also I stop by to tell you that we’ve found your Mom in an alternate universe. Don’t worry, she is safe now on our main planet, Suta I." Both Tommy and Charlie knew Sara, because she helped them and the others several times.

"Thanks for telling me that. How did you found her?"

"Oh Badu and Jet found her while vacationing there."

"Oh really. Well, if I see them again, I’ll thank them." Then he turned to the door and gave her a head bow before he left.

THE END of ACT I

Pictures courtesy of Alidar J., Jessica, Emily M., Lars I.

I like to give thanks to the people that are credited above: Owner of CP Picture Page, Sikes, and etc. who deeply help as well as greatly inspired me.

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